TVO ILC
ENG4U
Poem analysis worksheet
Poem analysis worksheet (for submission)
Analysis questions
Poem No. 1: I cant talk
Poem No. 2: I look at the world
What can you learn from the title of the
poem?
You can learn that the author is
struggling with something because
it is named “ I can’t talk”
You can learn from the title that this
author is looking into different things
throughout our world.
Identify and explain poetic devices in
the poem.
Simile: “ I speak like you (6)”
- She is comparing how she
speaks to how white people
speak
- Repetition “ I speak like you, I
think like you, I create like
you (6-8)”
- She is trying to emphasize
her words using repetition to
show that she had to change
and was forced to change
from her native identity.
Using those words like that
makes it more powerful.
“From awakening eyes in a black
face” (symbolism)
- This Is her telling her
perspective and how she
observes the world with her
clean fresh eyes even though
there’s so much darkness all
around
Rhyming:
“me, see”
“face space”
How are the words arranged? What is
the effect on the reader?
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
1
TVO ILC
ENG4U
Poem analysis worksheet
Analysis questions
Poem No. 1: I cant talk
Poem No. 2: I look at the world
Identify word clusters to help you
determine the theme or main idea of
your poem.
Words such as “ I lost my talk, the
words you took away” Is showing
the theme of conformity and how
she is being assimilated to
Canadian culture and her language
is being stripped from her.
“from awakening eyes in a black
face” help me show that you have to
do what is right even in bad stations
even if the world has darkness or bad
things happening you need to always
act fair in situations that aren’t right.
Focus questions:
Being forced to make English into
her language and being
assimilated.
The theme or main idea is to Not let
anything stop you or get in the way
and to always do the right thing even
in bad situations. I know this because
it is shown throughout the poem
What is the theme or main idea of your
poem? How do you know?
How does the title relate to the theme?
What image or line from the poem
stood out to you? Explain.
If you could ask the poet a question,
what might it be? Why are you asking
that question?
The title relates to the theme
because it is saying she can’t talk
meaning her own language
because she’s being assimilated
“you snatched it away, I speak like
you, think like you, I create like
you.” These lines stood out to me
the most because they’re very
strong and powerful and get the
point across to the reader of her
pain and frustration.
I would ask her why she didn’t
make it longer because it is a
shorter poem or if she thought
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
The title “ I see the world” is proving
that the poet is seeing the world we
live in and analysing the good and
bad things>
“with eyes no longer blind” I think it’s
a super cool line that gives the poem
a different perspective
I would ask him what influenced him
to right about this topic because it
was super cool
2
TVO ILC
Analysis questions
ENG4U
Poem analysis worksheet
Poem No. 1: I cant talk
Poem No. 2: I look at the world
having less words would make it
more powerful
Do you see the poet’s gender reflected
in their writing? If so, how? If not, what
do you think is the reason?
I don’t see the poet’s gender
reflecting
Do you see any other part of the poet’s
intersectionality reflected in their
writing? Explain.
I cant really tell that much whether
the author is a male or female with
their writing. I know she’s a female
because she has a female name and
that the only way I could tell.
How does the poet comment on
resilience in this poem?
Copyright © 2018 The Ontario Educational Communications Authority. All rights reserved.
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